Lopez Obrador lambastes IMF after it cuts Mexico's development forecast

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on Tuesday criticized using GDP development as a yardstick of improvement, however caught to his forecast of a 2% growth this yr after the Worldwide Financial Fund lowered its estimate.

On Tuesday, the Washington-based group lowered its 2019 forecast for world development, and slashed the outlook for Latin America by greater than half in contrast with estimates from simply three months in the past.

The IMF mentioned Mexico’s economic system is seen rising by zero.9% this yr, down from its prior forecast of 1.6% three months in the past.

Apparently shocked when requested in regards to the new IMF estimate in his morning information convention, Lopez Obrador responded: “They minimize us once more?” He then mentioned the group ought to apologize for its file of prescribing insurance policies to rising economies.

“I don’t have a lot confidence in these organizations… They had been those who pushed neo-liberal economics in Mexico,” mentioned the president.

Lopez Obrador invited economists on the IMF and different “technocrats” to a dialogue about whether or not development measured by gross home product (GDP) was the identical as improvement. Nevertheless, he mentioned Mexico was a part of the worldwide monetary system and “was not going to withdraw from these organizations.”

“They aren’t going to determine the agenda in Mexico, that’s over,” he added.

He mentioned Mexico was not going to measure success in preventing poverty solely by how a lot its GDP expanded, including that the federal government would additionally concentrate on salaries, wealth distribution and entry to training and well being providers.

The IMF, arrange within the 1940s with an goal to advertise world monetary stability, bailed out Latin American nations throughout debt crises within the 1980s. In return, it demanded strict budgetary austerity that critics say worsened poverty.

Preliminary information for Mexico’s second-quarter development is because of be revealed on July 31, and a few non-public economists predict a second quarter of contraction. This has sparked a debate over whether or not that may put Mexico into recession.

Jonathan Heath, a former HSBC chief economist appointed to the central financial institution board by Lopez Obrador’s authorities, on Tuesday mentioned two quarters of contraction didn’t make a recession.